All the Numbers and Historical Context From Bailey Ober's Career Night

Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober put together the game of his life on Tuesday night. He tossed a complete game, two-hit shutout on just 89 pitches, striking out seven Miami Marlins batters in a 3-0 Minnesota victory at Target Field.

A Byron Buxton steal of home (on a play with runners on the corners) and a Ryan Jeffers two-run home run was all the offense the Twins needed to support their pitcher.

The numbers

Ober allowed just two baserunners all night. He gave up a bunt single in the second inning and a fairly soft line drive single in the fourth. Other than that, he was utterly dominant.

Of his 89 pitches, Ober threw 37 changeups, which resulted in nine Marlins whiffs on 21 swings. He threw 34 four-seam fastballs, averaging 88.6 miles per hour and hitting 90 only three times. He also mixed in 18 breaking balls. Ober got 14 total whiffs and threw 64 strikes.

The Marlins put 22 balls in play. Only five had an exit velocity above 95, which is the threshold to be considered a hard-hit ball. Only one of those — a fifth-inning flyout to the warning track in right-center — was at all threatening. Three were harmless routine flyouts, and the other was a grounder.

Ober, who has the lowest average fastball velocity of any starting pitcher in baseball this year, lowered his ERA from 4.19 to 3.46 in this game. He's gone at least 6 innings and allowed 2 or fewer runs in four of his last five starts.

"The command was elite tonight," manager Derek Shelton said. "Ability to use the changeup vs. right and vs. left, mix the fastball, and then got a ton of early-count soft contact. There's not much you can say other than that was just outstanding, it was efficient, and really proud to have watched it."

The historical context

In his 124th career regular season start for the Twins, this was Ober's first shutout and second complete game. The sixth-year pro has never had a game quite like this. Not many have.

This was the second complete game shutout by any MLB pitcher this year and the first on fewer than 90 pitches since Sonny Gray did it for the Cardinals last June. It was just the 13th time this century a pitcher has allowed two or fewer hits and no walks in a sub-90-pitch shutout.

Ober's gem was the first Twins shutout of any kind since Pablo Lopez in 2023. He joined Lopez, Joe Ryan, Jose Berrios, and Ervin Santana (four times) as the only Twins pitchers with a shutout in the last ten years.

To throw a shutout on fewer than 100 pitches is considered a Maddux, named after the Hall of Famer. The last Twins Maddux came from Santana in 2017. Before that, you have to go back to Scott Diamond in 2012. It's a rare feat. And to do it on fewer than 90 pitches is even rarer.

Ober's 89 pitches are now officially the second-fewest in a shutout by a Twins pitcher, behind only Bill Krueger's 85 in an April 1992 game. However, pitch data is only official back to 1988, and it's believed that Dave Goltz threw a 70-pitch shutout back in 1974.

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